Fun and Games (Puppet Show Pt2)
by TheFourthMuskateer
Summary: Alex Lane, a local teenager, lands a gig at his neighborhood Freddy Fazbear's as a night guard in the midst of hard times at the restaurant. With the recent disappearances of two children and a killer on the loose, tensions are high. As Alex begins work, Scott Parks, a 13 year-old eighth grader, is determined to stop the killer's twisted agenda before it's too late.
1. So It Begins

**A/N: As you can see, this is a new story I'm working on! Firstly, updates on "Puppet Show" won't stop. I'm working on both at the same time because their stories co-exist. "Puppet Show" is just a prequel to this story. One doesn't need to read the prequel first to understand this one. You can read in any order you like! Anyway, hope you enjoy the first chapter and as always, feedback and reviews are always greatly appreciated.**

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 **Chapter 1: Him**

The first thing Alex Lane felt upon walking into the overly-advertised pizzeria was a feeling of strange nostalgia. Even though he'd never stepped one foot inside Freddy Fazbear's pizza, he felt a strange wave of childhood memories that didn't exist followed shortly by a dread-driven sensation in his stomach, a feeling of forbearance. Something was coming.

To avoid looking like a fool after standing in the doorway for a good ten seconds, he pretended he was holding the door open for someone, only to realize this would make him look even stranger as there was no one on their way in. He decided to forget it and just close the goddamn door before noting how this place had the 'it seems a lot bigger on the inside' effect to it, which he found quite enchanting.

Alex always had a strange fondness for kids places. He felt right at home. There was a kind of presumed safeness about them that just couldn't be replicated. That is, until a large intimidating man charged straight out from a door labeled 'employees only' right across from the entrance. Alex winced as this big bulky stranger rushed right up to him, grabbed his collar and threw him into the wall. Dazed, Alex managed to begin muttering, "what the hell is-"

"You! It's you isn't it!? You sick bastard! I bet you enjoyed it!" The cumbersome worker whispered with enough ferocity to shake a man with a stone heart to the core. He towered over Alex (who was now on the floor) and picked him back up by the collar again, forcing him against the wall. "I got you now!" He expressed through gritted teeth.

"I swear I have no idea what you're talking about!" Alex whimpered as he squirmed in the unwavering grasp of this hulking man.

"You lie!" The man pushed Alex further into the wall, practically lifting the younger boy off of his feet.

"Let him go! What the hell, dude. Have you gone mad!?" Cried another employee from behind a counter to the right of the entrance. He looked like he was around his early-twenties. "You have more important things to worry about and harassing every older-looking customer who walks through that door is not one of them!"

Alex gratefully smiled at the other stranger who came to his rescue when

the large man let Alex go and walked back through the door from whence he came, mumbling something like, "it could be him...You never know...This Goddamned place is messed up..."

Alex brushed himself off before thanking his savior with a submissive nod. Alex was utterly bewildered. Wasn't this supposed to be a kid's place!? He wasn't too keen on staying in an establishment where he got physically abused by a stranger the second he walked in. He decided to find a solution to his troubles elsewhere as he turned back towards the door muttering, "the hell was that about. Uh, um, see ya later, then..."

"No! Wait!" The young boy piped up. Alex stopped in his tracks. This employee had been nice enough to save him from his tormentor, so Alex guessed he could let this guy try to explain his co-workers actions. "Sorry about that, uh, he's been like this since the beginning of the week now. Ever since, um, you know..." He trailed off as if he found it difficult to keep talking. "This is only our first week back in business and most people don't really want to come back here, so we'll take any costumer we get. Even if you're a teen who has seemed to have grown out of, uh, the, um, 'family pizzeria' phase. So please just-"

"Wait a minute! Back up just a little bit! What happened!? When did you guys shut down!?" Alex intercepted after he'd taken a moment to scan his memory for anything he might know about Freddy's. The only things he knew were what his little brother told him about the place. His brother was a Freddy fanatic. He had all the stuffed toys, he had his birthday there every year, and yet, Alex had never seen the inside before. Maybe he thought it was a bit too kid-ish or maybe a bit too boring. Nonetheless, after his initially nice reaction upon his entrance, he knew this place was being run by employees who attack random customers for unexplained reasons. But maybe that was only this local establishment. Alex guessed the other location might be different. That one might not be ruthlessly targeted by local teens like this location. Alex personally didn't like to take part in the stupid tradition of coming in here alone at night to steal some cash from the register. Hopefully, an unnoticeable amount to the poor guy who was responsible for managing the cash register, of course. Ever since this place opened up a while back, it's been some kind of initiation that made you a 'true' man. You didn't grow up until you conquered Freddy's. It was mind-numbly stupid to Alex. Had it ever crossed their minds what would happen if they got caught? Even his best-friend, Brian, had taken the challenge a couple weeks ago. Brian still hadn't let Alex know whether or not he got caught amidst his juvenile endeavors.

Alex's thoughts were scattered as his newly-found conversation partner screeched, "have you been living under a rock!? It's all over the news...The papers too." His voice progressively died down as he explained.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Uh, A kid went missing here, um, a couple weeks ago. The child is presumed dead...They haven't found the body...or a suspect. It's kind of hard to stay professional in times like this." His voice sounded as though he were stabbing himself with his own words. Alex's heart dropped upon hearing this news. How had he not heard about this!? His previously mentioned feeling of forbearance in his stomach turned to a more grossly disappointed sensation in his gut. "To make things worse, another boy, um, went missing just a couple days after the first disappearance. No body found there either. We were forced to be shut down for an investigation. The investigators told us they saw someone dressed in one of our animatronic suits lead the first kid into a...room that isn't shown or recorded in the camera feed. We aren't quite sure about the second kid, but we do know that the guilty party is among the employees because only they would have access to our wearable suits. It's eerie knowing the killer could be in the building right now and we still wouldn't know. At least we opened back up again, even though every worker here is still getting questioned like mad... We haven't gotten as many people coming in since we reopened...You know, It's disgusting; wasting lives like that!" Alex was still surprised he didn't know about this. I mean, his brother didn't talk about it and neither did his mother and they came here often.

"Well that, um, that...really sucks. It's terrible, actually," Alex agreed. "So I suppose that guy who attacked me was just looking for a suspect, then. I don't even work here!"

"Yeah. Don't worry, Ronnie really does mean well. I think he took the news real hard. Maybe he blames himself for not noticing anything strange happening on that day. He's our security guard, so it's kind of his job to inspect any shady characters who enter, but, um, maybe he took it a little too far with you," the guy gave a half-hearted giggle and Alex joined to avoid anything from being too awkward.

"Uh, who, um, who were they? The victims, I mean," Alex stammered awkwardly upon asking such a sad, serious question. It really made him sick to his stomach. For all anyone knew, the kids might still be alive. He doubted that though.

"I wasn't told any information like that. The police haven't released names yet," The young worker stated bluntly.

"Ok, um, well, uh," Alex was struggling to find his bearings in the conversation after discussing the horrible news and it seems the employee caught wind of it and decided to step in.

"So, without further ado, let me do my job and greet you! Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. A magical place for kids and grown-ups alike, where fantasy and fun come to life!" He boomed with a suddenly energetic voice. It sounded like he'd been trained and briefed on how to deliver the line with perfect precision. Alex guessed it was important, as this guy would be the first person people would be seeing upon entering. "Now what might I do you for?"

"Well, uh, my mom nagged me into getting a summer job and I've seen your help wanted ads in the paper. So, uh, I guess what I want is to know when I could get a job interview," Alex stammered meekly.

"Oh! Um, I guess I could go find the manager for you. He's probably in the building somewhere... I, uh, just need to go get him. Come with me," he said as he gestured for the adolescent to follow. They both walked forward and turned to the left to enter a long hallway with entrances to party rooms lining up the walls on either side. Less then half were occupied.

"By the way, if you do end up getting a job here, I'll be the one teaching you the ropes. That's my job. I record training messages for the new employees. Teach them how to keep themselves from dyin'-" he stopped mid-sentence, probably due to Alex's mixed look of horror and confusion, followed by a smile.

"Why would a job at a kids place have stakes of life and death!?" Alex chuckled as he found it quite amusing. What's the worst thing that could happen at a family pizzeria?!

"Shhhh! Keep it down! The kids might hear you! Look, it's got nothing to do with the job _you_ might be getting. It's only concerning the performers/entertainers and the, uh, spring-suits. They're animatronic and mascot suit hybrids that are a bit tricky to get into. Eventually someone could get careless and hurt themselves," he explained strangely. Alex could see that this guy didn't really enjoy conversing about this topic. He'd probably explained it before, maybe even driven people off with his gloomy and eerily nonchalant way of describing these performers' potential injuries or deaths. For all Alex knew, this guy might be a complete bull-shiter, but he seemed quite sincere and kind, while still somewhat obliviously ignorant to the topic of death. Although, he did seem quite fazed about the disappearances of these children. Overall, this guy seemed to be attempting professionalism in this company's rough patch.

Alex demanded no further explanation as they continued down the hall and finally out into a huge main dinning area, with a curtained stage to his left and a smaller stage, also curtained, settling in the middle of hallway entrances on either side of the stage to his right. The room wasn't really packed, per say, but there were a sizable amount of kids running about the area. Straight ahead of him were two other hallway entrances, the left entrance seemingly leading to the restrooms and the right hall labeled to be the entrance to an arcade.

The worker began to lead him through the party room, while his eyes drifted towards the large eye-catching purple curtains closing off the main stage. "Is that where the animatronics are?" Alex wondered. Well, obviously, he then thought to himself.

"Uh, yeah. The main ones are up there. Their show's gonna start soon and then they'll move around a bit, greet the kids and then get back on stage. A new performance always starts on the hour. We have, um, the spring-suits entertaining the kids in the meantime. One of them is over there in animatronic mode," he explained. "The other one has been temporarily taken by investigators because it was the one that... _he_ used." Alex followed the worker's gaze to see a yellow-tinted bear greeting and entertaining kids with strange jokes and annoying puns. The teen was truly amazed with the technology, albeit the robot being a little...off to the eye. Alex read somewhere that animatronics are part of a subset of human-like things along with puppets and mannequins that can activate a strange set of irrational fears. Your body can't tell if it's a danger or not. Alex wasn't completely petrified by these fears like some of his friends were, but he still was a bit more on-edge then usual. The two boys continued on through the room.

" _Yes, friend! Your gaming skills have earned you tickets! And your tickets have earned you presents!_ " Boomed a robotic voice from the arcade as they passed by the entrance. Alex stopped in front of the doorway and peaked inside the room to spot a group of kids surrounding a large gift box containing a slender black-bodied puppet with a creepy white face emerging from the large present like a jack-in-the-box. It was handing out prizes to the children, when it suddenly looked up from the kids' faces and stared towards the door, right into Alex's eyes. It was truly spine-chilling. The strange puppet looked back down at the children waiting for gifts before looking right back up, but this time it's gaze was dead-set on the young employee next to Alex.

"Let's go..." The young man murmured while grabbing Alex's arm, pulling him away from the arcade entrance. They continued on through the room in silence. Alex was still quite fazed from being stared at by a non-sentient being. Maybe they were programmed to do that...but that couldn't be because that wasn't a robot. It was very clearly a puppet being controlled by some kind of metal lift. It couldn't be capable of turning it's head at will. Alex spoke too soon when he said he wasn't affected by irrational fears. Animatronics were one thing, but...puppets and marionettes were another when it came to population-frightening inanimate objects. How kids could stand creepy things like that, he'll never know.

A few seconds of silence later, Alex piped up, "Uh, was that one of your robots?"

"What? Oh, you mean that puppet thing. Well, no it's not an animatronic, but it definitely is one of our characters..."

Alex found this guy weirdly professional given the current circumstances, but ever since seeing the puppet, he'd started acting quite distant, as if his body was still present, but his consciousness was elsewhere. Snapped back to reality by one of Alex's question, he got right back to his competent self.

Alex looked around to make sure no one was listening before quietly and frightfully asking, "did you see that thing look at us? Is it supposed to do that with, like, the kids or something? If it's a puppet and doesn't have, like, artificial limbs like the other robots, than how the hell did it turn it's head like that?" Only after he barraged this guy with urgent inquiries did he realize it was probably only Alex's fear tampering with what was really there. He probably seemed mentally deranged to the worker. He was definitely just seeing-

"Creepy right? You aren't the only one who doesn't seem to like that puppet," the staff member admitted. Well, damn. For once, Alex hoped he was crazy. It turns out, there really was a twisted children's marionette at his potential new workplace. "I like all the other characters, but that thing is just...not right. I got a bit of a history with that puppet and I've always thought it didn't fit in with the gang. It's looked straight at me before. Almost like it's..."

"Like it's what?"

"Never mind it's, uh, quite strange," he said as they finally arrived at the end of the hall to the left of the smaller stage. They'd passed quite a few birthday rooms and even a supply closet before arriving at an office with entrances on either side. "Well, uh, here we are. The manager's in there. You wait out here, okay?" He walked inside the room and closed the door behind him.

Alex began to peak through the window near the door, but was suddenly shoved to the side as a young boy who looked around thirteen years old bumped into him. He backed right up into Alex, a camera in his hand.

"Oh, sorry," the kid apologized as he turned around to face Alex. "Ugh, now I have to retake this shot again. It's probably ruined," he mumbled, frustrated. The boy fiddled around with his Super 8 camera as he began to walk back into one of the party rooms lining up the hall.

"Uh, hey, kid, wait! Um, what are you doing!?" Alex asked suspiciously. He didn't want this boy getting in any trouble. The kid stopped in the doorway and waved his camera around as he explained, "You mean this? Oh, I'm, uh, secretly making a short horror film. It's also a bit of a murder mystery. This is my setting. I'm Scott, by the way. Scott Parks." The young kid reached out his free hand to shake Alex's.

The older teenager was impressed by this young kid's professionalism. It was quite charming. "Well, I'm Alex. Alex Lane," he said with a growing smirk as he accepted Scott's hand-shake.

"You know, some crazy stuff happened here a couple weeks-" He suddenly stopped speaking, silent for a good while with a confused expression on his face, and with a sudden start, he burst into quite speech, as if he was making some kind of shady trade in a back alley. "...Do you hear that?"

Alex wasn't getting the best first impression from the people who hung out around this place, but he decided to acknowledge the kid's question. "Hear what?" Alex asked hesitantly.

"Her. Do you hear her?" He was starting to sound quite upset. Alex was starting to get a bit freaked out.

"Who!? Who's 'her'?!"

"I'm...not...not sure. S-A-V-E M-E, she says... I will find you...Lucy. That's her name...I understand you...I'm sorry...," he closed his eyes and went silent for a moment. The teen, very mystified, debated finding someone to help.

"It stopped. She stopped. Where did she go? I can't hear her anymore," He suddenly snapped out of his trance-like state and re-acknowledged a very bewildered and borderline frightened Alex.

"...I-I'm sorry, but I, uh, I-I have to go!" And with that, Scott charged off, a worried look on his face, and with a wave of his hand, turned the corner around the hall. Obviously he wasn't too worried about getting his shot here anymore. Alex assumed he was joking, but if he was only pulling a strange prank, he sure was a good actor. In the scenario that Scott wasn't pulling his leg, Alex wouldn't want to be the one to tell Scott's parents that he was a little...different, to put it kindly.

Alex stood there, a little stunned, and waited for something to happen. Something was bound to happen, judging on the visit he'd been having so far. To start it off, he was attacked. Then, his soul was observed by a demented puppet, and lastly he met a proactive kid with a camera and voices in his head that brought him into randomly timed trances.

Abruptly, his previous employee guide opened up the office door and informed Alex to walk in. "Oh, hey! Um, I've gotta go do other things so good luck with getting hired! Oh, and also, if you do get hired, just remember to smile, you'll keep your job if you do. That's our motto, actually. 'Remember to smile; you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza!' Just remember that and you'll be golden! See you around!" And just like Scott, the man waved his hand and made his way back into the heart of the building.

"Wait! I didn't get your name!" Alex called down the hall. It was too late, though, as the job-searching teen's seemingly only friend he made was gone. He wasn't too sure Ronnie, that day guard looking for someone to arrest, was ever going to be much of a friend if Alex got the job.

Ignoring any other possible distractions, Alex went on through the squeaky door behind him to find a mildly messy office. He wouldn't say it was crammed, but he certainly wouldn't call the room gloriously spacious either. His eyes immediately drifted to a large eye-catching poster posted on the wall in front of the desk. All of the main mascot characters, cartooned, were smiling, Freddy taking center-stage. What were their names again? Alex could easily remember Foxy and his pirate cove, as his little brother couldn't let him forget. Foxy was all his sibling ever talked about when it came to the characters from Freddy's. There was also definitely a Bonnie, Alex was certain of that, but he couldn't remember whether it was the rabbit or the chicken. Anyway, he commented on how it was kind of stupid and lazy that they didn't bother to make new designs for the spring-suits.

The rest of the wall had been absolutely plastered with all kinds of children's drawings. That same strange wave of nostalgia as when he entered swept over Alex upon seeing the pictures. It was a bit creepy, yes, but still very reminiscent at the same time.

"Ah, so you must be Alex, then?" Asked the manager sitting in the office chair.

"Yep. It's me!" He did his best to put on his most Freddy Fazbear-like smile. After all, he was supposed to be the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. "And you must be the manager of this location?"

"You got that right," he sighed. He stood up and offered a handshake. Alex shook his hand and the manager sat back down. "The name's Mathew Burns."

"Uh, nice to meet you!" Alex hesitantly cheered.

"So from what I understand, you've come in response to the help wanted ad in the papers, correct?" Mathew asked, scanning through a pile of documents he took from one of the desk drawers.

"Yes, sir!"

"Now, I need you to know that the position was already filled. Earlier today, actually."

"Oh..." Alex's face of Freddy Fazbear faded away.

 _Dammit!_ He couldn't just leave! His mom had forced him to get a summer job! She suggested this place. He frowned, obviously cuing Mathew that he had upset Alex.

"No! It's just fine. We'll give you something else to do. You see, we'll take all employees we can get. I'm really not sure how loyal some of our staff members will be to the company after... what...what happened," Mathew blubbered. He picked out specific documents from the pile and signed them with a sigh.

"Oh! Well, uh, I'll do any job you ask me to do. I could clean up the place after everyone leaves," Alex suggested with new-found determination to receive this job.

"Sorry, uh, we already have an evening janitor..."

 _Shit!_ The teen's chances of obtaining a job here were dwindling by the minute.

"Now, uh, let's see...what could you do? We've got more than enough day shift workers. Oh, maybe you could...nope, that doesn't work either." He started stacking his messy pile of files, but looked twice after putting down a document. "Goddammit! Those teens are stealing all our money! In times like this, we can't afford to break-even." It seemed he was checking out a previous day's money total. He seemed to be getting pretty heated, so Alex took a tiny step towards the door. Especially since he was considered to be a part of the crowd who was guilty of such thievery. "Hey, you!" He suddenly addressed Alex as he looked up from the documents. "Do you know anything about this? Are they coming in the middle of the night? How are they getting in?!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure. I don't really-"

Mathew's face suddenly lit up like a light bulb when he shouted, "That's it! How do you feel about taking a night shift here!? You can watch for any pesky trespassers entering. Look after the place from 6:00 to 12:00? What do you say?"

A night shift. Of all things, he could possibly have to do! The fucking night shift!? He didn't want to waste his time around here in the middle of the night! He had other things to do...like sleep! He was just going to pack up and leave. He'd tell his mother there weren't any jobs available and he'd try later in the summer.

"I'll just look somewhere else," Alex proclaimed, making his way back towards the door.

"No! Please wait! I need this..." He suddenly looked quite emotionally drained. Alex honestly pitied the guy; having to go through all this disappearance business. It must be hell. "Look, I don't how loyal my workers might be to the company. I'm not sure many of them want to be accused and eyed by society for working at Freddy's. A lot of people suspect the guilty party is an employee here.

"Uh, sorry," sympathized the minor.

"Look, kid-"

"Alex Lane."

"Alex Lane, I really feel that you're a good kid. I need people like you in rough times like these. I need someone who'll stay true to the company until the bitter end. I need to hire someone I can trust like I obviously didn't do in the past. Please. You're my glimmer of hope in this rough patch," Mathew pleaded.

 _"That was weird,"_ Alex thought. It was almost as if Alex was interviewing Mathew, with the guy begging for him to take the job. If he wanted an employee he could trust so bad, then why didn't he just put Alex on day shift, or something. Nonetheless, however weird it might have been, Mathew's pleading eventually got to him and...

"Fine. I'll do it," Alex sternly accepted.

"Thank you! You won't regret joining the family! Oh, and always remember to smile-"

"You are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. I know how it goes," Alex sassed. It was probably dangerous to be a bit rude to his new boss, but he was still very pissed that he had to work a night job. Well, at least he had the whole building to himself for six hours.

"Well, uh, at least you seem to be...one step ahead of me!" Mathew exclaimed optimistically. "Now, first order of business is too...Let's see here...find you a key..." He rummaged through one of the desk drawers as the adolescent started tapping his foot. "Ah, here it is!" He pulled out a single silver key from the drawer and waved it around so Alex could see. "Now don't lose this," he said as the key was tossed over to Alex. The teen fumbled with it, trying not to let it fall, but, naturally, he failed miserably and the key fell to the floor with a clink. He closed his eyes and sighed before kneeling down to pick it back up. His hand-eye coordination was never very good. "Keep dropping it like that, and you'll be losing it in no time at all," Mathew chuckled. Alex rolled his eyes as the manager continued briefing him, "so, uh, you'll be working from 12:00 AM to 6:00 AM, got that?"

"Yeah. I got it, Mat. Can I call you Mat?"

"Okay, sure. Now, uh, I guess I'll let you use this office too. Ronnie, our day-shift guard, has a small crammed office near the front of the building. You probably don't want to use that one.

"Oh, I've met Ronnie before," Alex fumed, hopefully unnoticeable to his new boss. He still hated that guy.

"Good! You've met each other! Already starting to get to know your co-workers! Speaking of Ronnie, he uses a neat little tablet that allows him to see every camera feed in the building. You can use it during your shift to spot any criminals."

"Neat," Alex said, uninterested. He was still a bit angry that he was assigned the night shift.

"I'll have one of my most loyal workers record you a message to help you get settled in for your first night, you know. You'll start Monday. You'll find your uniform and supplies here Monday night." Mathew quickly glanced away from his now resumed document signing to Alex and obviously detected an annoyed grimace on the boy's face. "Okay, I'll tell you what, get through five nights here."

"Five nights?"

"Yeah. The whole week to see how you feel about the job. You know, I've worked a night job before. They can be quite relaxing; with the silence and whatnot. Of course, I'm not saying you should slack off! All I mean is..." He stopped talking, trying to get his sentence back on track. "Just, uh, just get through five and if you truly hate the position, I'll squeeze you in elsewhere," he bargained.

"Alright, I accept," Alex proudly responded. He could manage five. His sleep schedule would be thrown off a bit, but at least his position would change afterwords. "Well, uh, I'll see you later, then." He turned for the door and opened it, but before Alex could step through, Mathew rapidly got up from his seat and grabbed Alex's shoulder.

"Uh, hey, also try to keep an eye out for, uh, for _him_. The guilty party. He might return in the night," Mathew shuttered. His voice was heavily hushed, he made certain of that.

"He might return for what?"

"Hell if I know! Evidence maybe. To destroy it. Anyway, no matter what they're doing in here, send all trespassers away. See you later, Alex." He gave a slight push for the teen to leave the office, and Alex obliged. He walked back out into the hall and the door was shut behind him.

Without a doubt, that was the strangest yet easiest job interview Alex had ever had. Also the seemingly nicest boss he'd ever had. The young kid commenced the walk back through the hall, passing all the party rooms mildly filled with laughing and/or crying children. On his way back, he considered how he wasn't too thrilled about the new gig he landed. He would have to tell his brother that he wasn't working the day-shift. His little sibling had this strange idea that all employees working there had some strange friendship with the characters. The kid had even asked Alex to formally introduce him to Foxy the next time he came. Guess he wouldn't be getting one-on-one time with his hero anytime soon. Only five nights, though, and he might be working among the elite, or in this case, the day-shift workers.

Coming up to the end of the hallway, the lights suddenly dimmed as he saw the purple curtains on the big stage begin to open. A large hush waved over the crowd of children listening. Even from behind him, children in the party rooms came silently flooding out, probably trying to get a glimpse of their favorite character. The children from the hall pushed past him and into the dinning area, where they found a place to sit among the legions of children who already found their place at the various tables. Like they had all been put under a freaky spell, every single child in the room fell silent. Nobody stirred either. Everyone waited as the purple curtains slowly revealed the animatronic band Alex's brother practically worshiped. From the corner of his eye, he could see Scott Parks, the kid he'd met a couple minutes ago, standing at the end of the opposite hall, preparing his camera to get the greatest shot of the band in action.

Finally the curtains opened and the eerie silence Alex wasn't too fond of was drowned out by the sudden cheers of children as the three smiling robots on stage were fully revealed. Without delay, the children hushed once again as the animatronics immediately whirred into robotic action.

 _"Hey there, everybody!"_ The bear from center stage beeped with an upbeat, baritone sounding voice. Alex had never seen them in action before, so this was kind of cool.

 _"Hello, Hello, kids!"_ Exclaimed a higher pitched voice from the bunny on Freddy's left.

 _"Hi, boys and girls!"_ Fizzled the female chicken to Freddy's right.

 _"I'm Bonnie the Bunny! Rock on!"_ So the rabbit _was_ Bonnie. Also, Alex sarcastically commended Bonnie's cleverly thought-out catchphrase; Rock on!

 _"Hi again! I'm Chica the Chicken! Let's eat!"_ Chica cooed, flailing her cupcake laden tray around everywhere. Man, if that thing were real, the cupcake would have fallen right on top of the attentive kids sitting at the front table.

 _"And everyone knows me! I'm the world-famous, Freddy Fazbear!"_ Alex wasn't too sure about the whole 'world-famous' thing. Maybe he should have said, 'I'm the somewhat widely-known, Freddy Fazbear!'

 _"Are you guys crazy or something?! That's not everyone! We're forgetting our best friend!"_ Chica scolded childishly. Who were they forgetting again? Oh, yeah, it was-

 _"Yer all forgettin' ye first matey, Foxy! T' baddest sea-pirate on the seven seas!"_ Screeched the fox from his pirate cove directly to Alex's right. His loud intro caused the adolescent to slightly flinch, as he had completely forgotten he was right next to pirate cove. Foxy retreated back into his cove and the curtains closed again. Alex was sure he'd be back out later, though.

Alex saw Scott intently capturing footage of the show-stage. He had the same worried expression on his face as before, but this time it was mixed with a hint of sadness and a pinch of determination. After a bit of close examination, the teenager noticed that Scott wasn't directly filming the robots on stage, but whatever was behind the animatronics. The only other thing Alex saw on stage was a small door, likely leading to some kind of backstage area. What was he staring at so closely?

 _"So is everyone having the greatest t-_ **Who** _-time,"_ Freddy said, somewhat speak-singing. Only about fifteen seconds into their skit, and Alex was already noticing technical issues in their voices.

 _"I know I-_ **Him** - _am, Freddy,_ " Bonnie chuckled, riffing on his guitar. The bunny suddenly stopped playing his instrument, his head snapping sharply to face in Alex's direction. Oh, great! The last thing Alex wanted was _another_ one of this pizzeria's animatronics staring into his soul. But as expected, the adolescent noticed Bonnie's plastic eyes scan him from head to toe. At least this one was probably programmed to make eye contact and scan the different people in the room, unlike that puppet.

 _"And how about my delicious pizza, kids? Great, huh?"_ Chica enthusiastically hummed. The kids in the audience seemingly couldn't hold in their attentive quietness anymore and roared upon Chica's mention of pizza. Alex was curious if it actually tasted like real food. Probably not. Places like this always seem to have lackluster food, but then again, when you're a kid, you don't really care. Pizza is still pizza in their eyes.

Alex had enough of this place for one day, as the suddenly overbearing scent of pizza wafted through the air, workers with trays-full of it heading to every table in the room. The children's abrupt cheers for the animatronic band were also starting to wear on him as well. He'd be spending more than enough time here on Monday night, so Alex began to awkwardly waddle across the room, trying not to draw too much attention to him, the lone teenager seemingly wandering through the pizzeria. Bonnie shouted something about the arcade being 'tubular', although the teenager wasn't really paying much attention anymore. He was about to reach the hallway near the show stage when he saw Scott give a timid, small wave. What was up with him?

It occurred to Alex that he might run into Ronnie again on his way out. He'd try to swiftly and stealthily make his way out the do-

He stopped in his tracks outside the hallway when he felt something warm grab his shoulder. It was now grasping his shoulder tightly, enough to start inflicting mild pain. Alex turned slowly turned around to see Bonnie, guitar in his other paw, smiling in front of him. Color drained from his face when he saw the other robots staying still on stage. They weren't programmed to move around yet. He struggled to remove Bonnie's artifical paw from his shoulder as it tightened it's grip.

 _"I'm your best friend,_ **Br-** _Bonnie the Bunny! We're going to have lots of fun!_ **Soon...,** _"_ He said, his voice with a slight echo. In contrast to earlier, it sounded quite glee-less and lower pitched.

Alex could feel his shoulder undergoing more pressure then it ever should and began to cry out for help. Somehow, nobody seemed to notice or care because Freddy Fazbear had the audience's attention with his lousy jokes.

"Arggggg! Somebody...Help!"

Bonnie gave out a sickening, screeching whir as he haltingly spun his head to face the show stage. Freddy Fazbear gave a rapid glance, as quick as his animatronic body would allow, away from the attentive children and faced the malfunctioning bunny. The bear rapidly let out the same ear-piercing screech, seemingly unbeknownst to the remainder of the room, as the robotic rabbit had made earlier.

To Alex's great surprise Bonnie's paw retreated from the boy's shoulder as the bunny made his way back to the stage with a loud clunk every step he took. With the animatronic now back in it's proper place, Alex expeditiously sped into the hall leading to the exit as fast as his feet could possibly carry him.

His mind was racing as he quickly examined his arm, still making his way through the hall. There was a big bruise running down from the top of his arm. The wound was pretty noticeable due to the short-sleeved shirt he was wearing.

Had that actually just happened? Nobody else seemed to have noticed! Had he somehow seen a very vivid and unforeseen daydream? Nope, it definitely did happen, judging by his continuously aching shoulder. Whatever it was, all Alex could think about at the moment was leaving and getting back home safely. He'd for sure be telling his brother that Bonnie was now his least favorite character at Freddy's.

Reaching the reception area, Alex cautioned himself for his least favorite human at Freddy's, Ronnie. It seemed Ronnie wasn't too keen on being a dick at the moment, as his little office door didn't swing open. _Thank god._ He rapidly trod his way to the exit, but was interrupted by a young woman, wearing the Freddy's uniform, looking around the same age as the worker who helped him out with the day guard.

"Are you okay?" She asked, a perturbed look on her face.

"Yeah. I'm fine," Alex retorted in his eagerness to leave, regretting his rudeness when he saw the apologetic look on the young woman's face.

"Oh, uh, well, sorry, then. It's just your arm. It looks a bit bruised." She apprehensively approached the younger boy and gave him a light tap on his shoulder. Alex attempted to hide a painful grunt, but it didn't seem to work. "You don't sound fine! What happened?" She asked protectively.

He let out a sigh and began explaining Bonnie's strange actions. "That damn robot attacked me!"

"Well, I will definitely talk to my boss about that."

"You mean Mathew? I've met him. He seems a bit scattered, so I don't know how helpful he can be," Alex argued. He turned back around to leave.

"You've met Mathew? When?" She said, moving in front of Alex, blocking the exit.

"Just now. I got a job here as a night guard. Now, lady if you would please move out of the-"

"A night guard, huh. Well, uh, you be careful then. Them, uh, 'criminals' who try to bust in here can be very crafty and dangerous. I'm the only one who seems to know that around here. Also keep a lookout for F- _him_ ," she advised, grabbing Alex's shoulder. She moved out of the way.

"Okay, lady. I'll make sure of that." He opened the door, the cool summer breeze almost numbed the pain from his bruised arm.

"Hey, kid! My name's not lady! It's Vanessa!" She shouted as Alex was already making his way across the parking lot. "And trust me, if you know what's good for you, you'll listen to me!"

"Well, I'm Alex," he shouted back.

"Alex Lane. The night guard of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."


	2. Night One: Housewarming

**Chapter 2:** **Acquainted**

Alex slowly emerged from deep sleep as his alarm blared on his bedside table. As per usual, he reacted to his rude awakening with a grunt. He slammed his hand down on the clock's snooze button and the ear piercing alarm ceased blaring at once. Right off the bat, Alex noticed something seemed off about this morning. It seemed a bit barren. A bit empty. A little too quite.

He opened his eyes to a squint, and to his surprise, his room was flooded with moonlight. He sat up in his bed to get a look out the window across from him. And strangely enough, it was still dark out. He sluggishly grabbed his alarm clock and stared at the time displayed, puzzled with the situation. The thing read 11:15 PM. His first guess was that he might've set an alarm for PM instead of AM, but after being conscious for a couple more seconds, he remembered Summer vacation had just begun. He usually wouldn't dream of setting an alarm.

He didn't really care why it went off, as long as he didn't wake up his mom or brother. He carelessly threw the clock back on the bedside table and was happily ready to sink back into his cozy bedfolds until he saw a key glinting in the dark alongside the alarm on the table. "Oh...shit...," he tiredly whispered, letting an irritated sigh as it all came back to him. Tonight was the first night of his new shift.

He remembered he'd gone to bed early and set an alarm for 11:15, so he could get some sleep before his all-nighter shift. Before he could somehow convince himself to fall back into the warm comfort of his bed, he threw off his blanket and switched on the bedside lamp. Yawning as he stood up, he trudged over to his closet and thoughtlessly grabbed and threw on the first t-shirt he saw. It just so happened to be the only stainless white shirt he had. Letting out an even bigger yawn then the first, he slowly finished getting dressed.

Alex always found it strange to get up in the middle of the night when the rest of the house was asleep, but it was also weirdly exhilarating. It reminded him of that one time he snuck out in the middle of the night to meet Brian Anderson, his best friend, at a distant neighborhood's public swimming pool. It was closed, but the meaning of the word is lost to teenagers like them, so they just hopped the fence and swam the night away. The most exiting part of it all was narrowly avoiding getting caught.

The hardwood floors of Alex's room creaked as he tip-toed into the darkened hallway with his family's good-night's sleep in mind. He rubbed his eyes and threw away the whole tip-toeing thing when he stealthily ran back into his room to power down the lamp he'd forgotten to turn off. Alex also grabbed the supply-filled backpack he'd lazily thrown on the floor before he went to sleep. He quickly sped back out of his room as quietly as he could and into the hall. Speeding out the front door, he looked back to see the tiny house he lived in. Was still a damn shame that his father left them in this hell-hole of a neighborhood. The dusty old bike propped up against the front of the house was hopped on by the newly-employed teen and freely driven out into the dimly lit street towards Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.

Alex couldn't say he was very exited to work this job through his precious Summer break time. Especially since it was the night shift. He'd already dumped his truckload of pissed-off onto Mathew Burns, his new employer, for landing him the graveyard shift, so he just sighed to express his anxiety for the job and freely drove through the car-ridden roads of the night, the midnight chill happily whipping through his long brown hair. At least he'd gotten a job and would be able to help support his mom. Or at least get her to stop nagging him to do so. As he swerved out of a lonely car's way, it occurred to him that he could probably get his mom and brother discounts for when they visited Fazbear's as often as they did. Tomorrow he'd plan on hassling Mathew into giving him some. The guy didn't seem very assertive, so it had to be easy to convince him of anything.

Alex yawned once more as he started to approach the end of his street. Boy, was this place dead at night. It was already pretty empty in the daytime, but only when he went out at night did the boy realize just how lonely this slum really was. He'd be happy to be rid of this place forever. As long as he lived, he would never be able to truly call his neighborhood home, and yet, he'd never lived anywhere else. Where the hell did he want to be so badly other than here? After all, this was all he ever knew. He guessed he just wanted more for his family, but where was it? Where was his faraway home-

Shit. He stopped his train of thought in it's tracks. Alex hated when he got all philosophical with himself. He also stopped his bike in it's tracks and took in a deep breath as he stared at the darkened pizzeria in the distance, his new night home. The big sign on the roof with the cartooned versions of the Fazbear band loomed over the whole parking area like an ancient Roman monument. Except a whole lot less impressive. Only imposing. At least to Alex. It read: 'Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! Where Fantasy and Fun Come to Life!' How lovely. Alex somehow didn't think the 'fun' part of the ad could apply to night workers. He continued riding through the large empty parking lot towards the building.

A quick shiver shot down the teen's spine when he quickly glanced at the sign again as he regrettably noticed the sign's cartoon Bonnie stare him down like a turret protecting area fifty one. Wonderful. Just wonderful. He'd almost forgotten about that dickbot's malfunction when he first visited the pizzeria. That thing had almost torn off his arm. Or at least the pain reflected a force of that sort. Anyways, now he was reminded of Bonnie's aggressive greeting and had to go inside alone at night with the Fazbear Band as his only frighteningly malfunction-prone company. And don't even get him started on that fucking puppet thing. That thing was straight up unsettling. It honestly kind of freaked him out in a way. Ever since he was born, Alex had fears caused by his reeling thoughts. One creepy event and his brain would run horribly terrifying scenarios over and over in his head. At least these guys stayed stationary at night...And yet he couldn't help, but wonder.

The wind stopped blowing in Alex's ears when he finally reached the glass doors of the darkened pizzeria and halted his rusty old bike. Since this place was obviously prone to drunk teen break-ins, the new night guard realized leaning his bike against the wall next to the front doors might not be the best thing to do if he ever wanted to see his bike again. Or at least in one piece. And he assumed Mathew wouldn't appreciate Alex lugging his dirty bike into the building. So instead he just walked his bike to the back of the building, a narrow passageway between Fazbear's and another building in the mall leading to a small square-shaped dead end. The small back alley was dimly lit only by a small lamp connected to one of the brick walls. The clearing's fabulous decor included a luxuriously over-flowing vibrantly green-colored dumpster along with the classically grey trash-can straight out of skid-row! Anyway, Alex leaned his bike against the aforementioned dumpster, which reeked of cat-piss and molding pizza, and looked once more at his slummish surroundings. Holy hell this place was like the perfect area to murder someone secretively.

Upon his mention of murder, Alex remembered the two missing kids. Nervous goosebumps emerged when he remembered that he had to watch out for him. His reeling thoughts ate away at him once again and he suddenly sprinted as fast as possible away from that dead end and back in front of the building. There is no real reason the killer would arrive here in the middle of the night, but even so, the thought of someone in the alley lurking in the shadows, the child-napper cornering him, it was enough to make Alex sweat.

Alex bent over to catch he breath when he reached the front of the glass doors. Damn he wasted all his energy because he got wimpy again. Standing back to his full height, he reached deep into his pocket and wearily fished around for a key. He felt the cold metal in his hand as he grasped it and pulled it out of his pocket. The lonely silver key unaccompanied by a jangling key ring, was placed inside the door lock on the glass doors. Alex slowly turned the key, preparing for whatever might await him with this insane new job. With thoughts of the creepy puppet and the murdered kids fresh in the night guard's mind, the key completed it's rotation. Click. The door unlocked and Alex apprehensively pushed through into the darkened pizzeria.

Shit. Alex wasn't expecting to feel this unsettled. He found the place to be actually pretty nice looking in the day, but night-time was a whole different story. The cute pictures of children's drawings neatly stapled on a bulletin board above the door to Ronnie the day guard's office, now looked disorderly and twisted like a strange fever dream nightmare. Straw covers and napkins and other things of the sort were strewn about all over the reception counter to his right, remnants of yesterday's working hours. Besides a few littered wrappers here and there, the floor seemed pretty clean in general.

Alex looked at his watch reading, '11:49' and decided it was a little too dark to feel his way to the office Mathew was so graciously letting him use instead of Ronnie's. He didn't really know the layout of this place too well in the first place, so he abandoned the idea of trying to navigate his way to the office without light, so he threw his bag on the reception counter and zipped it out. He scavenged for his flashlight among a sea of random snacks, books and things to keep him entertained during the shift. At last he pulled out the small little torch from the bag and zipped up, throwing it on his back once more. He switched it on and began traversing through the midnight halls of Freddy's.

He could barely remember anything from the tour that Mathew's most 'loyal employee' gave (probably because of the whole traumatic experience with Bonnie), so it seemed he would just have to look around until he found it. Hopefully avoiding that damn Puppet's room. Jesus, did Alex find that thing to be the epitome of his childhood fears.

From this reception area he could either enter Ronnie's office or go left to reach a long hall. Alex chose left because he assumed the office would be a dead end and he also promised himself he would avoid anything to do with that assaulter.

Alex stared at a poster of Foxy the Pirate plastered on the wall behind the counter. Foxy was his little brother's favorite character here, so he couldn't help, but give a small smile as he thought of that little tot. Like most little brothers, he could be annoying as hell, but he could be very sweet when he tried. But he also realized, unlike most brothers, he could be strangely violent at times, and say sadistic things while performing said violent actions. He was getting treatment from doctors and a diagnosis on these strange behaviors had not been delivered yet. Nothing Alex could do about it yet.

The guard stopped stalling by staring at random drawings on the wall and actually started making his way down the first hall lined with party rooms, flashing his light through every open doorway, just to ease his emerging paranoia/curiosity that something might be lurking in the shadowy party rooms. He hadn't seen anything so far. Mostly just, empty tables with party hats in front of each seat. Nothing unusual yet.

Reaching the end of the hall and into the main party room, he instinctively pointed his light immediately towards the show stage expecting to see the three main band members. Only he didn't see them. Although, he did see a large curtain closing off the stage. He assumed they were locked in position behind it. Flashing his light in that direction, he noticed a blocked off entrance to the right off the stage. Alex apprehensively and quietly walked through the hauntingly quiet dining area to inspect the newly-noticed door. It was surprising that he'd not noticed this before as 'DO NOT ENTER' was marked in bright-red. In fact, there were many signs plastered all over the door to keep out of this section. Well, that seemed like a dumb idea. If you're trying to get kids to stay away from something, don't constantly throw 'STAY AWAY FROM THIS' in their faces or they'll just get curious.

Before he continued the search for Mathew's office, he noticed the main DO NOT ENTER sticker on the door peeling off. It was covering the original words that had been painted on the door. Out of that same childish curiosity in all of us, he carefully peeled off part of the sticker, making sure he would be able to stick it back on, and was able to see the original writing on the door. 'STAGE 01,' it read. That was quite peculiar to Alex. Was this the original stage? What performed on it? Why was it closed off? All these questions he wanted answered, so as a result, he impulsively tried to open the door. He expected it to be locked or at least a little jammed, but it slowly creaked open when he lightly pushed it.

The night guard only poked his head through and shined his flashlight into the room. As he suspected, the room was only a smaller version of the main dinning hall only with an empty stage at the far end of the room. He realized he probably shouldn't be messing with this room. He didn't want to get in trouble for snooping around in places he shouldn't on his first night. He quickly poked his head back out and shut the door. Okay. Back to the office. 'Oh damn' was his first reaction as he swiftly ran back to the door and replaced the DO NOT ENTER sticker back the way it was. Okay. Back to the office for real this time.

He slowly continued tip-toeing through eerily silent pizzeria, keeping up his newly-developed habit of flashing his light into every room he walked by. Occasionally he would also flash the light towards the show stage. Just to ease his paranoia. He also noticed that the dinning hall seemed a lot bigger when it was empty. Or maybe that was just because of the painfully slow pace he was walking to get through it.

Alright, so Alex remembered walking down a long hall lined with even more party rooms to reach the office last time he was here. He also remembered meeting this weird kid who was shooting some kind of mystery movie. Alex also remembered the guy temporarily falling into a trance of some sort. Scott was his name. Scott Parks. And speaking of a long hallway, Alex could one straight ahead of him, so he made he was towards it, assuming it was the correct way to go.

Passing by the bathroom hall, he once again shone his light into the darkened area. Next, he passed by some kind of janitor's closet with the door standing ajar. He reluctantly pushed the door fully open and shone his light in there. Nothing interesting. Only mops and buckets. He shut the door, closing it properly this time, unlike the janitor who was most likely using the closet before Alex arri-

THUD!

Alex practically jumped out of his skin, then proceeded to frantically flick his light all around the room to find the source of the loud banging noise. "Shit! Shit! Really!? On my first night!? I'm not even in the goddamned office yet!" He muttered under his breath, realizing it might be one of those stupid break-ins the neighborhood teens are practically obsessed with. He was just a tiny bit too tired to deal with one of those juvenile ass-hats. But his new job called for it. He had to protect the pizzeria at night and protect the pizzeria he would. And unless it was an adult, Alex assumed letting whoever broke in know the pizzeria had a night guard now would probably scare them off. And then they would hopefully tell the rest of their buddies waiting outside of the place's new midnight protector.

Alex actually liked the sound of that! 'Midnight protector! Roaming the darkened corners! Fighting crime! Destroying all villains who attempt to enter his shadowy domain!' Great superhero title!

Alex deepened his voice and began to yell the robber...before he thought of something intimidating to say. "Don't come any further into this restaurant! The Midnight Protector will destroy you! Or, uh, I mean the, uh, the police...the authorities...Just, uh, just get out of here you, uh, you-you fiend!" He yelled, his stupid comments echoing through the silent pizzeria. Well, any chance of him being intimidating were now gone. Oh my God, he must of sounded so fucking stupid! Who the hell says, 'fiend.'

His only option now was to find the office and call the police. But after staying still and listening to the quiet for a bit, he realized the pizzeria was filled with just that; quiet! No footsteps other than his own could be heard. And no matter how silent a dumb teen tried to be, Alex still would've heard something. There's no way any criminal could be that silent. So, the sound was most likely something he'd accidentally knocked over. And yet, even though it wasn't the sound of a criminal, Alex would definitely be more on edge for the rest of the night. More focused than any other night guard should have to be on their first night. Looks like the first night wasn't going to be all about getting acquainted with his new workplace, but more about staying focused on his actual job. Which was definitely not a bad thing, but if he wasn't actually any good at defending himself against anyone who breaks in, being focused didn't really mean anything.

Whatever. He'd figure out what to do later, but for now, Alex just really wanted to get comfortable in his new office. So, he continued walking towards the corridor leading to the office. 'Oh great. Just great,' Alex thought as he saw there was one more entrance he'd have to pass by before getting to the hallway. And it wasn't just any old party room or storage closet. Oh no, no, no. This room Alex remembered. It was the arcade, which is also known to him as the Puppet's domain. The last time he walked by the arcade and looked into the room, the first thing he saw was that fucking puppet scanning his soul from the inside out.

Alex decided he was just going to run by the entrance. He wouldn't even stop to flash his light into the room. He wasn't really in the mood to be creeped out by that thing. He didn't want to know if the Puppet was staring at him from the darkness or not. Ignorance is bliss. Truly. Then again, Alex couldn't deny that he was just little curious to see if the Puppet would know if he was there and stare at him once more. Then again, curiosity killed the cat, so they say.

Ah, screw it!

Alex jumped in front of the doorway and shined his light into the room and was exceedingly disappointed he had done so. Because the first thing he noticed upon the dim illumination of the room was the Puppet's box, which had been swung wide open, with fallen smaller gift boxes strewn all about the floor in front of it. The worst part was the severe lack of a Puppet inside the giant box. Alex shuddered.

The now frightened boy took two extremely apprehensive steps into the arcade room, trying to be as silent as possible as not to alert anyone or...anything...of his presence. He only wanted to get a look at the rest of the room. He quickly flicked his flashlight around the corner of the arcade and only saw rows of arcade machines lining up the long room.

Okay. Nothing here. And after second thought, Alex realized the Puppet was probably just curled up at the bottom of the present. But that didn't explain the open box and the gift boxes on the floo-

Then he saw it and was immediately paralyzed by fear. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed it. Staring at him from on top of an arcade machine against the back wall in the far corner of the room. It didn't move. It just watched. It lay down on top of the row of machines, like a right-side up sloth. Alex wanted to make a run for the office, he really did, but he didn't want to make any sudden movements. And after seeing what these things were capable of, he didn't want to screw with this guy. Running might only entice him to give chase.

Alex took a very slow step backwards to see how it would react. It moved it's head along with him. Following Alex's movements with every step he took. This told the night guard two things:

1\. This Puppet obviously had some control over it's movements.

2\. Alex would be right to say this thing was straight up scary.

As if things needed to get any worse for the terrified guard, the Puppet began emitting a low humming noise. Alex began to sweat, further gluing to the floor as the creature then pointed with it's long flimsy arm to something sitting on top of a shelf near the big gift box. Alex slowly turned his head to see what he was pointing at, still making sure he could see the Puppet out of the corner of his eye. The teen saw a small box with an even smaller crank jutting out the side. A note was crudely taped on it's front side. 'Take it. My gift to you. You have thirty seconds. Go.'

What the hell did that mean!? Did the Puppet write this!? How the hell does a fucking Puppet do that!? Alex began to realize he didn't time for all these questions. The note told him he had only thirty seconds. Thirty seconds until what, he didn't know, but he surely wasn't going to stick around to find out.

Alex's time was ticking and he still hadn't done anything. He looked back at the Puppet and it was starting to crawl along the top of the arcade machines, towards the boy. Fuck. Alex was done with waiting.

The teen swiftly ran to the shelf, grabbed the small box and ran for his life back out the arcade. He pointed his flashlight in all directions around him, just to quickly regain his bearings, seeing the office at the end of the long hall. Bingo.

Not having the luxury of time at his disposal, Alex ran faster then he'd ever had to in his life, past the darkened party rooms, praying some kind of demon wouldn't pop out and pull him into the dark as he ran by. Obvious to see Alex wasn't thinking rationally anymore.

Shit! Why does it feel like the hall will never end. And just as he dared to look behind him to see if he was followed, he rammed into the wall at the end of the hall.

Despite the pain, he swung the office door open and shot himself inside, tripping as he stumbled into the room. No time. He's got no time left. Alex jumped to his feet and accompanied with that recognizable sound, slammed the east hall door shut.

...

...

...

Alex took slow, steady breaths to calm himself down as he sullenly sat down at the office chair. Damn. Thirty seconds had obviously passed and nothing crazy happened, so what he assumed the Puppet wanted from the night guard was probably right. He was supposed to get to the office in thirty seconds.

Alex was still having trouble catching his breath. 'What the hell?' was all he had the energy to tell himself, as he threw his bag and the 'puppets gift' on the table. His brain was having quite the time trying to explain what just happened to itself. He noticed night guard supplies and a folded uniform on top of the desk, along with a small tablet seemingly displaying a layout of the pizzeria in the corner.

He picked up the tablet first. The camera feed was already switched to the show stage, where Alex saw all of the main band members deactivated and silent behind the curtain. He then noticed 1:03 AM displayed on the top right corner of the screen. Damn. He'd wasted that much time walking around the place.

Alex chuckled to himself as he looked back at the three frozen robots. They weren't able to move at night, so why the hell was Alex worried another malfunction could happen. Bonnie wasn't just about to waltz on over to the office and nearly break his arm again. His brain also seemed to find the solution it was looking for as Alex realized he was probably just hallucinating all that crap with the puppet.

But then again, the strange box he was told to take was still sitting there on the desk along with the threatening note. Speaking of which, he could probably just check the arcade CAM and see what the puppet was up to. He looked down to the bottom left of the screen and scanned the digital map layout of the building for the arcade. This place definitely seems much smaller on the outside. No wonder Alex got lost. Freddy's is actually pretty big. Monitoring all these camera feeds would not be very easy.

Static filled the screen as the arcade video feed started to come in to focus, occasionally blurring as static covered the screen for a couple seconds.

"Well, shit," Alex thought as he saw the Puppet's box still standing wide open. He wasn't having vivid hallucinations. That crap was real. And very strange. The guard took in another deep breath upon this realization. He was definitely going to approach Mathew Burns about that.

Alex decided to continue staring at the camera feed until he saw something happen. Just quiet now. He tried to listen for any sort of movement throughout the restaurant. He couldn't hear a thing...Or could he? Was that breathing? Was that a footstep? Or just wind? Or maybe-

RING! RING! RING!

"Shit!" A startled Alex yelled, as an old phone blared it's ring throughout the office. Who the hell is calling at this hour!? Oh yeah. Mathew told Alex he'd be getting a message from the guy who first showed Alex around the pizzeria.

RING! RING-

"Shut up! I'm getting it!"

Alex picked up the phone and was fully expecting to hear the man who showed him around when he first got here.

 **"Alex Lane?"** Said the voice of a young boy. He sounded around 12.

"H-Hello?" The confused guard responded. Okay, so it wasn't a message from the guy he expected. But what was even stranger was that it didn't even appear to be a message at all, but an actual phone call. This late a night. From a child? Who knew his name. "Who is this? How do you know my name?" Alex attempted to ask sternly.

 **"I'm not obligated to answer that,"** the kid sassed.

"Why are you calling here this late? Isn't it, like, passed your bedtime or something?"

 **"Excuse me, Lane, but I do not have a bedtime. And I'm calling to get you ready for the first show."** As the kid talked, the troubled guard noticed a hint of an English accent.

"Hey, kid! Tell me how you know my name!" Alex shouted into the speaker.

 **"Why? It doesn't matter at the moment."**

"Is this a prank call? Who the hell are you? Where are your parents?"

 **"Lane, you must know, all those questions you ask get very annoying very fast. I'll answer the three you asked, but then I insist you do away with all the question marks for now,"** the child said frankly. Shit, this kid had quite the attitude.

"Listen, kid, I don't know what the hell your-"

 **"One, this is not a prank call. I can assure you of that. Two, many know me as Edward, but you can refer to me as what you will. And three, my parents are both dead and they have been so for many years."**

Alex didn't believe for one second this wasn't a prank call after that. And what the hell kind of prank call was this. It wasn't very funny.

"Hey, kid, or, uh, Edward? Try proving this isn't a prank call. 'Cause if you can't then I'm just gonna hang up," the teen challenged.

 **"Simple. Look at the desk in front of you. On it, you will find supplies and a uniform you have not yet touched. You will also see a security tablet that you have been staring at to monitor the Puppet, whom graciously gifted you the music box also sitting on the desk,"** Edward snarked.

"How the hell do you know-"

 **"Furthermore, look to your right and then to your left. Notice how you no longer have regular doors, but giant metal doors. You might want to open them up using the buttons beside them. You know, to conserve power."**

Alex seriously began to think he was dreaming this as he saw exactly what Edward was describing on the walls. As the child continued, Alex thought it best to just comply with what he was asked to do. Whoever he was talking to obviously knew exactly where he was. And that scared him.

 **"Below the door buttons, you will find another marked 'light.' This will grant sight into the halls on either side."**

Alex pushed the button on both sides, and doing so resulted in a portion of the hallway to be illuminated.

 **"These buttons and doors are your close partners. Your camera monitor too. Look down at the monitor and you will find a new display presenting you with how much power the pizzeria has left. Running out of power will result in both your doors opening. Conserve power and make sure to always be surveying this bloody place,"** Edward explained.

"Uhhh, o-okay," Alex managed to muster. He was starting to feel rather inferior. Being talked to like this by a kid. A snarky kid who obviously knew way more than he did right now.

 **"Failure to conserve power will result in the end of enjoyment."**

"What the hell does that mea-"

 **"Stop! Lane, what did we say about those question marks? They will not help you now. They can and will always lead to insanity. Stop trying to explain everything to yourself. For your own good,"** the boy interrupted.

Alex was starting to get annoyed and was about to lash out at Edward, but managed to stop himself and simply grumbled, "fine."

 **"Lastly, the music box the Puppet gave you. Wind it up. Make sure the music box's song never reaches it's end. Those are the rules. Follow them. Or don't. It's your choice. Goodnight."**

Edward then hung up, leaving Alex alone in the office with a bewildered look on his face. And just like the events with the Puppet. All he was able to tell himself was, 'what the hell?'

No. Enough questions. Alex couldn't afford to lose his sanity trying to explain everything. He had to trust this was a dream.

* * *

Alex had always thought, along with a good chunk of society, the supernatural as something of fiction. Well, he thought that maybe ghosts existed, but things appearing out of nothing like that, changing before his very eyes, that was definitely outside his realm of belief.

And yet, despite trusting he was in a dream, there he was, winding up the Puppet's music box on the desk. He was absolutely not first in line to find out what would happen if the song stopped. Monitoring the cameras, flicking through every video feed in the restaurant. But, other than listening to that stupid song from the music box over and over again, nothing had really happened since Edward called him. It was 3:45 AM.

He also noticed the Stage 01 camera didn't seem to be working, every time he would switch to it, he'd only see a bunch of static. At least the rest were working, so he could do what Edward told him to. Alex still hadn't really figured out why he had to survey said cameras or wind up the music box, but he couldn't say he wasn't a little bit spooked at the mystery of it all. But Alex had already convinced himself all this was a dream and he'd probably just wake up in the office at 6 AM, so there was no point in asking questions now and just in case he wasn't dreaming, he'd be following Edwards orders. Manage power. Monitor cameras. Wind music box. And don't keep the doors closed unless you have too. Alex didn't really get the last one. He didn't see why he'd ever have to close 'em. He'd probably just be waking up soon anyway. He'd probably just fallen asleep in the office.

But if that was the case, then why was he getting so sleepy, all of a sudden. Alex began yawning as he lazily wound up the music box once more. As he attempted to carefully analyze the dinning hall cam, he stopped being able to fight his heavy eyelids. He jostled his head a bit after briefly closing his eyes and slumping back in his chair. Blinking non-stop, the night guard retrieved a water bottle from his bag and attempted to lightly splash his face, but ended up accidentally dropping the bottle and completely soaking his face. Shit. At least that'll probably hold him over for another 30 minutes or so.

* * *

The tablet displayed 4:13 AM and Alex was practically a zombie now. Winding the music box and flipping through cameras can do that to you. Not to mention, his fatigue getting worse. He had to splash his face again to keep him from passing out. Alex seriously didn't expect it to be this hard to stay awake. And based on his theory that he was dreaming, he shouldn't be falling asleep like this. Or maybe he could. Would he have a dream in a dream?

4:26 AM and Alex was starting to lose control of his eyelids. He kept falling in and out of consciousness, while still attempting to wind the box. In his fatigue, he was starting to see strange things in the cameras. He saw party hats multiplying in the dinning hall. Posters of the animatronics disappear and re-appearing in front of his very tired eyes. He could've sworn he saw somebody entering the building through the front entrance cam. Somebody young. Maybe he should go investigate-

NO! He couldn't trust anything he was seeing. He was either really tired and was hallucinating things. Or the strangeness of dreams was starting to come into play. Alex rubbed his heavy eyes and blinked a couple times, then he looked back at the tablet. Whatever or whoever he'd seen was no longer in his sight. Ah whatever, he was probably just seeing things anyway...

Alex's consciousness was beginning to fade. He was afraid he would doze off pretty soon, so he flipped through every video feed quickly before he fell asleep, even though he wasn't really processing what he was seeing. Although, he did notice something very strange on the show stage cam. He saw Bonnie and Freddy's heads staring straight at the camera, their eyes completely blacked out. Seeing something like this earlier in the night would scare the hell out of him, but he was way too tired to even care anymore. He was falling asleep and that's all there was to it. He was gonna be fine.

Alex used every last bit of his energy to give the music box one final wind to fully restart it's song before collapsing in his chair. He'd fallen asleep.

* * *

Alex woke up to the sound of heavy footsteps walking in his direction and upon emerging from unconsciousness, felt he wasn't in the office anymore based on the surface on which he was sleeping on. It was on a cold floor somewhere in the pizzeria. He'd fallen asleep in his chair. He finally shot his eyes open when he felt his leg being softly nudged.

He saw his boss standing over him, looking surprisingly amused. Another surprise was Alex finding himself lying on the floor in the middle of the dinning hall. Mathew offered a hand to Alex to help him get up. The guard excepted and accidentally yawned in Mathew's face. It didn't faze the manager, though. He simply grinned and jokingly said, "So, uh, it's obvious how your first night went..."

"Sorry, sir. I, um, I-"

"Oh it's fine. No need to apologize. Just, uh, don't let happen again, okay? Even though I'm desperate for good workers, I'd still like you to do your job. Tomorrow morning I don't want to find you here again at 7:00 AM," Mathew Burns chuckled lightly.

Alex grinned along with the fortunately forgiving Mathew, but realized he should defend himself a little bit. "I know what this looks like, but I was honestly working, uh, hard." He hesitated as he remembered all of the unreal details of his night. He still wasn't sure if he was dreaming that or not. He decided it best to just pretend he was having a normal night.

"Alex, don't get me wrong. I've worked a night shift before and a little snooze is fine, but why out here and not in the office? I trust you were using that one?

"I was, sir-"

"You don't need to call me 'sir'."

"I was...dude? And that's where I fell asleep! I honestly have no idea how I ended up out here. Maybe I was sleepwalking. I'm not sure," Alex attempted to explain, shifting awkwardly in front of his boss.

"And another thing, Alex. Who is that? I trust you know him?" Mathew pointed at a table in the far corner of the room. The night guard turned around and was extremely dumbfounded to see none other than Scott Parks, the only kid whom he'd met upon his last visit here. He was sitting alone at the table, his hands shaking nervously as he vacantly stared at the video camera in hand. Why the hell was he here?

"Some cooks who came in early this morning found both of you passed out on the floor here. He woke the younger one and called me up so I could deal with you. And here I am. That kid wouldn't say anything. He's just been staring at his camera over there. So mind explaining who he is?" Mathew asked. It was actually more like a demand. Alex caught on to Mathew's subtext very easily.

"Ummmm...I-I don't know," Alex lied. He thought about telling Mathew the truth, but ultimately decided against it. He didn't want to be linked with Scott was dealing with.

"Well, that obviously means he somehow entered the building last night. Most likely while you were snoozing away. I gotta get to work and see how much of a mess you made of my office, but before you leave, would you mind talking to the kid? See if you can get some answers out him?" Mathew asked. Demanded.

"Sure thing, boss," Alex said with fake enthusiasm. All the teen wanted to do was go back home and hop into bed.

"Just call me Mathew," he said while walking down the west hall.

Alex stood still for a moment, took in a deep breath and walked over to Scott's table. He was taking a seat next to him when Scott suddenly faced him and said, "So you're the night guard here, then. Alex Lane if my memory serves me well?

"You got it. And you're Scott Parks. With the camera. I met you a few days ago when I came here to apply."

Scott finally put his camera down on the table and slowly rubbed his hands together.

"Y-Yeah, I'm the s-same guy," Scott stammered.

"Hey, dude. You seem nervous. You okay?" Alex asked out of genuine concern. If this kid came here last night, then he might've been subject to strange disturbing happenings as well. And if that were true, then he wasn't dreaming all that shit. The puppet. Edward's call. The doors appearing out of nowhere.

"I'm getting in t-trouble for b-breaking in, aren't I? You t-told 'em didn't you?"

"No! Of course not! I didn't tell them anything. I don't think I even saw you come in at all. No, wait. Actually, I might've seen you come in right before I fell asleep, but, uh, if I'm being honest, I didn't really care at that point. I was too tired," Alex responded, trying to make the obviously troubled boy feel better.

"Oh. Well, um, d-do you know what happened last night?" Scott asked fiercely, a dark tone suddenly taking over the question.

"N-No. I was gonna ask you."

"Damn. A-All I remember is picking the front door lock, then s-s-sneaking in here. Filming every step of the way. I walked slowly d-down the corridor leading to this room here. Then all I remember is hearing some kind j-jingle playing from off in the d-distance. Then something attacked me from behind. I turned only to see some kind of b-black figure. Then the next thing I know, I'm on the floor being woken up by some cook. With you passed out as well." As Scott explained, Alex could tell he was having a hard time re-telling the story. He was legitimately frightened.

"But why'd you break in in the first place?!"

"She was calling to me. And she wouldn't stop!"

"Who!?"

Scott pointed to the show stage.

"Lucy. Lucy Mayfield. I met her the same day I met you. She hasn't stopped calling to me since."


	3. Destiny

**Chapter 3: Destiny**

"Scott Parks?!" the boy's teacher, Ms. Meadows, announced to the classroom at the pace of an auctioneer. A good amount of students darted their eyes to the back of the classroom, eagerly eyeing a certain inattentive student in the shadowy corner of the space with uncanny speed and accuracy. Other students stared blankly ahead, bracing themselves for their turn to announce their presence in a timely fashion. The inattentive boy, lost in a random schoolroom doodle was beginning to recieve a whole lot of glares from his peers as Ms. Meadows' announcement went unacknowledged for a good five seconds.

Meadows, still staring down at the attendance sheet, cleared her throat and repeated, "Scott Parks?" She raised her eyes from the blue document and scanned the class, every student, except for the kid secluded in the corner, flipped their heads forward, attempting to look as studious as possible. The Middle-aged woman's eyes locked onto her suspect. He was easy to find among the kids whom had become statues of themselves. She intently cleared her throat again and stared at Scott with dagger-like eyes.

"Scott!" she swatted as if she were speaking to a mis-behaving puppy. He kept his head down, simply staring at his journal, or whatever it was. The kid next to him yell-whispered something like "dude!" It didn't work, and for fear of getting in as much trouble as Scott was going to be in, he sank back into his chair like jello.

At the other end of the room, unbeknownst to his teacher, Mike was secretly folding a lined sheet of paper into an airplane under his desk. He'd done it so many times before, he could fold himself a military-grade fighter jet with his eyes closed. He completed it in a matter of seconds and as soon as he quality checked his plane to be ready for takeoff, he threw it in Scott's direction. And unfortunately for Scott, Mike threw his airplanes as well as he crafted them. It rode beautifully through the air, flying as though Mike had stuck a tiny pilot inside. Some students noticed and watched as it fluttered over their heads. It twirled around in the air for a while, then, with blinding speed, it sped towards it's target. It crashed into the side of Scott's head and crumpled to the ground. _Bullseye!_ Mike celebrated on the inside while Scott jerked his head up, suddenly in the real world once again.

"What?" Scott muttered, dazed. The kids in Mike's corner of the room snickered, oblivious to the wide-eyed teacher at the front of the room.

"Mr. Schmidt!" Meadows barked. "Do you have any idea how many warnings I've given you!?" He smirked and shook head. "You're antics have disrupted the class for the last time! Principal's office! Now! Expect a call home!" Meadows was practically fuming.

Mike's smug look was suddenly replaced by that classic look of dumbfoundedness as if he had no idea what she was jabbering about. He thought maybe if he tried hard enough, he could squirm his way out of this one. Squirming out of things was his specialty. But Meadows wasn't having any of it. She stared him down fiercely and pointed to the door.

As Mike got up and trudged out the door, head hung low, a light snicker fell upon the classroom mixed in with some 'ooooooooooos.'

Scott reveled in his mortal enemy being defeated by the teacher like that. He always loved sweet justice and-

"As for you, young man!" meadows shifted her gaze toward Scott who was trying very hard wipe the smirk off his face. "You just cost this class a free period. Attendance has always taken far too long in this class and now I'm truly confident that it's a constant that will never change. Everyone take out your textbooks." The classroom collectively sighed as their teacher started jotting something down.

 _Oh shit!_ Scott had just cost everyone a period of freetime. Now he was on the class's bad side. Or worse side. The class had never really liked him all that much to begin with. The feeling was mutual, of course. It was rare for Scott to actually enjoy someone's company. And he felt bad about it too. Whenever he managed to form a new friendship, it would usually fall apart pretty quickly. Not to mention the fact that Scott found his peers' maturity levels were at an all-time low in middle school. Scott liked to hold himself to a certain standard. On top of that, it had always hard for him to be comfortable around people, so it was easier to just keep to himself. One versus the World was pretty hard, though. Especially with asshats like Mike and his gang. Scott knew for a fact that Mike would blame him for getting sent to the office. Thinking grimly about what might happen after class, Scott shoved his journal back into his bag and sank into his chair, hoping he would just disappear into the fabric of his seat.

The prof. shouldn't of been surprised her mess of a class failed her little challenge, but she had to admit, the kids were pretty focused this morning...for eighth graders. Feathrington Middle School's senior class was notorious for always being unteachably disruptive. For six years in a row, techers would tell horror stories about the eighth graders that kept all members of staff awake at night. "It's densely populated with class clowns and gossipers with no off switch," one co-worker told Meadows. Thank God today was the last day of school.

* * *

Scott charged through the halls of Feathrington, attempting to dodge the countless students flooding out of their classrooms as well. Scott looked over his shoulder while running, and sure enough, Mike and his friends weren't far behind. He reached the end of the hall, fiercely banging into two blue doors. He swung them open and ran down the stairs inside. Correction- Scott jumped down the stairs. He dangerously skipped a couple steps on the way down, just barely regaining his balance after tripping on the last step. Despite many walls of students occasionally blocking his speedy trek out the door, he made his way out of the school without running into Mike.

Now on the school's front lawn, Scott thought it appropriate to give his body a rest and take up a more leisurely pace. There was still a sense of urgency, though. Where would he hide from the bullies? Scott eyed the small wooded area across the street in front of his school. After catching his breath a little, he recklessly charged across the street and into the trees. He could've easily been hit by a car, but it was a chance he was willing to take. He ducked behind a bush at the edge of the woods and peaked his head out to make sure his tormentors weren't around when Scott would decide to reveal himself from the bushes.

He watched as students from his school came flooding out. All kinds of strange characters. Middle school was a strange and unfamiliar place to Scott. Even after his three years there, every person felt like a stranger. He felt like he was infiltrating a previously established family. He also felt like a dumb loner stereotype who doesn't fit in. At least he could say he didn't _want_ to fit in. That certainly separated him from the crowd of movie nerds shouting, "I don't belong! I wanna be popular!"

 _High school is probably going to suck even more._

Scott was dreading moving into grade nine. There's a reason no one ever makes movies about middle school; it's nearly as hard as high school. Scott's future consisted of his lunch trays being smacked and lunch money being stolen.

He was torn from his thoughts when he heard a loud rumble resound through the air. What had been a bright sunny day was now transforming into a grey rainy one. It was hard to make out through the forest canopy, but Scott could tell storm clouds were rolling in above the woods. The sudden lighting change was a pretty good indicator. Leaves rustled in the wind, a couple twigs falling on Scott from above. He felt light rain droplets fall through the trees and splash on his nose.

He waited around for what felt like ages and there was still no sign of Mike. The rain was coming down harder now too. Scott was sure everyone had left the school by now. He probably just missed Mike. So, thinking he was in the clear, Scott slowly stood to his full height and slowly creeped out of the bushes and onto the street. This time he looked both ways and, seeing no oncoming cars, he ran onto the sidewalk in front of the school.

 _Great. Now I've gotta walk home in the rain. Jacketless._

The wind was ferocious, violently whipping through the school's flag. Scott was even shaken a little as he made his way down the sidewalk. He walked home quite often, so he knew the way from his school. It was about a twenty minute trek. Scott would rather walk than take his rowdy bus anyway. Walking was peaceful. It gave him time to think about what had happened and was has yet to happen. It let him see and think about the world. Fresh air can do that to you.

Suddenly, Scott found himself toppled over on the pavement. Someone was on top of him, pinning him down to the sidewalk. _Shit. It's Mike._ Without even looking at his offender, Scott squirmed his way out of their hold and quickly sprinted straight down the path. He was stopped again as Mike stepped out from behind a tree on somebody's lawn and into Scott's way. Scott abruptly attempted to stop his sprint before smashing into Mike, but he only ended up tripping himself and falling flat on his face at Mike's feet.

"Your stunt gets a perfect ten," Mike said sarcastically. He offered a hand to Scott, whom reluctantly took it, but found himself back on the pavement as Mike pulled it away at the last second.

"Leave me alone..." Scott said meekly. He felt so powerless looking up at Mike from the ground this way. But he wasn't going to give up the remainder of his pride so easily. He was going to fight to the bitter end.

"Leave _you_ alone? Leave you alone!? Leave _me_ alone, my friend. Your shit got me sent to the office!"

"Yeah! And you got us all in trouble with Meadows. BE A TEAM PLAYER!" yelled a friend of Mike's friends catching up to the action. Scott assumed that was the guy who tackled him back there. In a sudden fit of rage, Scott stood up, steadied himself, and swung Mike's friend with all his might. He missed, but he could tell it intimidated the bullies a tiny bit.

"Woah, Scotty. Leave poor Liam alone. He's fragile," said Mike.

"Shut up, man!" Liam jokingly nudged Mike. Then he nudged Scott rather un-jokingly. "What the hell were you even doing in that journal? Mike! Let's find out!"

 _Oh shit._ That was slowly becoming Scott's motto. The second his journal was mentioned, he tensed up. He threw off his bag and held it tightly to his chest.

Mike opened his arms wide and said, "don't be rude, Scotty. Why don't you show us? It's the least you can do after what you did to me? Do you know how much shit I'm gonna be in with my dad? He can be...umm...very unreasonable with this kind of stuff."

There was a momentary awkward silence. Mike would often let it slip that he didn't have a very safe home environment. It always made everyone feel awkward, but Scott saw it as a cry for help. Sometimes he would even feel bad for the guy...

But today was not one of those days.

Scott pushed past the two boys and ran as fast as a hare down the sidewalk, backpack clutched tightly in his hand. He didn't even know if the boys were giving chase or not, but he didn't really care. As long as he got home with his journal, everything would be fine. Nonetheless, his curiosity got the better of him and he peered over his shoulder to see if they were on his tail. Lo and behold, they were.

 _Oh shit (See! There it is again)._ If they gave chase all the way to his neighborhood, they would find out where he lived, and Scott could _not_ let that happen. So he took a right instead of a left at the next crosswalk. That would lead him to the more commercial side of town rather than his neighborhood.

He sharply cut across the street on the busy intersection, making a half-hearted effort to check for cars. Mike and Liam got beeped at by a taxi driver as they flew across the street after him. All three boys were running against the wind. The rain pelting them wasn't making it any easier.

Scott knew he couldn't run forever, so he tried to come up with a quick getaway plan. But his mind wasn't being very cooperative. All he could bring himself to do was keep running in a straight line. He past by a 7-Eleven, a dry cleaner, and a few seemingly low-quality restaurants. Needless to say, he wasn't in the nicest part of town.

Without anywhere to go or any place to stop, Scott kept running. Until, suddenly, that nagging voice at the back of his head started acting up again.

 _Lucy_ , _don't bother me at a time like this. And don't you dare do that trance thing again! That shit hurts._

 _ **Watch your language, young man. I only wish to help.**_

Lucy was... something strange.

She was a voice that called out to Scott one day. She had never shut up since. Scott heard it from Mike all the time, but this kind of stuff made him wonder if he really _was_ insane. At first, he passed it off as a weird quirk, until one day she put him into some kind of trance, taking control of most of his body. She wasn't _exactly_ controlling him, per say, but rather greatly influencing him to do things he might not do under normal circumstances. Scott was able to withstand the trance occasionally, but it hurt like hell to try.

 _I'm really not in the mood. Could you just leave me alone for once!_

 _ **If you want to get away, cut through the small alley coming up on your right.**_ She had a sort of ghostly quality to her voice. Scott found it rather hypnotizing.

With the bullies gaining on him and nowhere to stop, Scott found he had no choice but to put all his faith in his strangely sentient helper. He turned at the last second into a small alley between a coffee shop and a seemingly nameless convenience store.

The alley was small- Scott could easily point out everything in it contained in a matter of seconds. Including the metal fence blocking his way at the end of it.

 _What do I do now!? And don't you dare give me more sketchy instructions and then abandon me when I decide to follow them!_

 _ **I will never abandon you. I am you and you are me.**_

 _Okay great. Lovely. But that doesn't answer my question._

 _ **Look around. See what you find.**_

Now Scott was getting pissed. He'd spent a valuable five seconds standing in the alley doing absolutely nothing. Hopefully the bullies didn't see him turn into the back street. If they had, then he would only have five more seconds until they caught up.

"Look around. See what you find," he recalled under his breath, scanning the room with the precision of a hawk. Or at least he attempted to be hawk-like. Unlike most people, adrenaline made Scott _less_ focused.

The only significant thing he noticed was the large green dumpster propped up against the coffee shop's wall. He stared at it for a second and then, suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

He rapidly ran to one end of the dumpster and pushed with all his might. To his surprise, the large bin rolled straight down the alley and loudly crashed into the fence with a loud clang. The dumpster lid flew open, some empty coffee cups and wrappers falling out.

 _Oh shit. It was on wheels!_

He cringed at the damage he may have caused the fence, but quickly dismissed the thought. The bullies were close behind. Without another second to spare, Scott slammed the dumpster lid shut, and began pulling himself onto it. The lids nearly collapsed under his weight, despite Scott's railroad track thinness. He took a second to balance himself on the wobbly bin before he felt the old thing begin to buckle underneath him. He swiftly jumped onto the fence, causing the dumpster to go barreling down the alleyway and straight towards Mike and Liam as they turned the corner.

Mike, too surprised to think clearly, simply watched on as Liam jumped out in front of him and clashed head-on with the runaway dumpster. It slowed to halt as Mike looked at the one who sent them this trashy present.

"Holy shit, dude! Are you trying to kill us!?" Mike shouted as he began walking towards the fence Scott was clinging to. Mike thought it was now justifiable to pick on this kid. He _had_ tried to hurt them after all. Scott was urgently climbing the rest of the way up the fence.

Mike charged for the fence gesturing for Liam to follow as he ran.

"Go on without me," he wheezed as he attempted to push the dumpster to a halt. Mike decisively flipped his head towards Scott, whom was almost to the top of the fence. He sprint jumped onto the fence causing it to shake a little and Scott's leg to lose it's gripping. Mike grabbed at Scott's swinging leg then yanked it down with one hand, attempting to hang on the fence with the other.

Scott, in his panic, shook his leg free, swinging it wildly. He clawed the rest of his way up the fence and carefully flipped himself over to the other side. He braced himself for a second and jumped the rest of the way down.

After regaining his balance, he looked back through the fence to see a bloody-faced Mike keeled over on the ground. Scott couldn't tell whether Mike's nose was only bleeding profusely or if someone had slashed at his head with a machete.

Mike lifted his head a little seeing Scott's fazed expression. He felt a tingling sensation in his nose and instinctively went to scratch it. It felt wet and silky. Wide-eyed, he stared at the blood on his hands and only after he'd noticed the wound, did it start to hurt.

"Y-you... I'm b-bleeding..," he said, his words quavering. Now he felt some kind of lump start to form in his throat. Then suddenly, Mike clutched his chest tightly and burst into a violent coughing fit. Some blood spattered onto the ground. Both Liam and Scott watched in horror as Mike vomited blood and blood streamed out his nose and down his face.

Still expelling blood from his body, Mike weakly lifted his head to stare Scott down.

"W-wh-what the f-fuck...d-did...y-y...did y-you do to me?" he said between coffing fits, tears now beginning to stream down his face. Scott felt sick to his stomach.

"Liam, can you do me a favor?" Scott said meekly. "Call an ambulance," he continued before even getting a response from Liam. "Get him some help."

Quickly glancing once more at the damaged he caused Mike, he sprinted quickly down the alley, muttering an apology under his breath as he ran.

 _Lucy, what the fuck!? What did you do to him!? I obviously had nothing to do with this, but God, do I feel bad._

 _ **As much as you might think otherwise, you are special. You are different from them...**_

 _Jesus, Lucy! I don't make people cough up blood on a regular basis! I'm not specia-_

 _ **You shouldn't of apologized. He had it coming. Think of all the pain he's caused you. That pent up hatred inside you. Think of it.**_

 _...I mean...I guess he did. Yeah! Finally we agree on something, Lucy. That guy can be an asshole when he tries. And he tries. A lot._

 _ **Scott! That was only a test to see if you were morally aligned for what you need to do! And you failed with flying colors. Micheal is hurting. Physically and emotionally. You know this.**_

 _Wait what?_

 _ **Micheal is hurt-**_

 _No the other thing! You said I had to be aligned , or whatever. And for what?_

 _ **Once you exit the alley, keep walking. That is where your destiny awaits.**_

 _What the hell does that mean!?_

 _ **...**_

Scott slowed down to a hearty jog, gradually degenerating into a brisk walk. Usually he got an immediate response from his brain buddy, but now she was silent. The trick is usually getting her to shut up. The silence was strange, especially after saying something so ominous.

Despite that, Scott kept walking once he exited the alley to heed Lucy's instructions and to avoid a bully whom was most likely out for his blood.

Scott arrived on the other end of the alley to find himself in a rather sketchy part of town. Very few trees. Metal fences. Cracked brick. Newspapers, cigarette buds, and...indescribable articles littering the streets.

Despite his absentminded nature, Scott looked both ways before jaywalking across the carless street in front of him. His mother's advice to always stay cautious in this area of Feathrington played in his head. As he crossed, he realized it was no longer raining. And the lack of storm clouds allowed Scott to see a beautifully orange-painted sky. The sun was setting.

Crossing the street led him to a large empty parking lot save for about ten cars. He stared ahead at the massive pale-bricked building looming over the lot. It was the only one occupying the plaza. All the lights were off. It looked closed for the day.

An inexplicable shiver quickly shot down his spine.

 _It's late. I s-should head home._

He tried to pry his gaze away from the ominous edifice, but failed. The building had it's own gravity field and Scott was stuck in it's pull.

 _ **Your destiny.**_

Scott was too pre-occupied to be fazed by Lucy's statement. Scott slowly took a couple steps towards the structure, taking a deep slow breath as he moved. Strangely enough, he was intimidated to move any closer.

Scott lost all sense of time and before he knew it, the sun had set and he was still standing, rooted to the same spot in the parking lot.

 _ **Your destiny. Seize it.**_

It took everything in his power to move forward once more, but he eventually did. Much closer now, he scanned the building from top to bottom. His stomach was in knots, palms sweaty as he read the words on the darkened neon sign above the place.

"Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

 _ **So it begins.**_

He'd never been to Freddy's, but he saw tv ads for the place all the time. Images and footage of kids playing, laughing, eating pizza, playing on arcade machines. Images and footage of animatronics, a chicken, a bunny, and a bear singing and dancing. A creepy red fox.

And a puppe-

Another shiver shot down his spine as he sensed a presence behind him. He quickly flipped his head back to find nothing there, but the empty parking lot. He scanned his surroundings once more. He knew he felt someone nearby. Someone was watching him.

He noticed movement in front of the main doors into the building. Two boys around Scott's age, maybe older, were conferring in front of the glass doors, one of them fumbling with some kind of small contraption. They hadn't yet noticed Scott watching from the shadowy parking lot.

The boy with the contraption had dark brown hair and round glasses, wore dark khaki pants and a slightly dirty thin white shirt. He seemingly slid one end of the small contraption into the door's keyhole. He jiggled the key a little, apparently attempting to get the door open.

The other boy simply stood and watched. He wore a black hoodie with the hood drawn up and wore loose jet black pants. While his buddy dealt with getting the door open, the hooded boy eyes wandered to Scott's direction.

The hooded boy spotted him and stared at Scott accusingly. Scott tensed up

His friend finally managed to open the doors to the pizzeria and he immediately slipped inside. The hooded boy put a finger to his lips and ran inside to catch up with his partner.

The two boys left the glass doors wide open allowing a third figure to approach from the side of the building and follow them inside. This last man was significantly taller and older than the other two, leading Scott to believe he wasn't part of the younger boys' escapade. His clothes were so dark, Scott could barely even see the man. He practically blended into the environment. The only way Scott could tell him apart from the backdrop of the building was from the shiny purple badge emblazoned on his suit.

Before completely slipping into the dark halls of the closed pizzeria, he noticed Scott watching him.

The man didn't move. He simply stared.

Scott locked eyes with the man. The man's pupils were as white and cold as snow.

They were burning. The man's eyes physically burned Scott down to his core. Yet, much like the building itself, he could not tear his gaze away from them.

 _ **It's Him.**_

Scott didn't truly understand what Lucy meant, but he felt a rush of fear wash over him. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. His body shuddered. His knees grew weak. Hot tears streamed down his face. He couldn't feel his limbs.

"Welcome to the Family," the man said, a smirk growing on his face.

Then Scott blacked out.

* * *

"So that's it? You blacked out then woke up here in the dinning room?" Alex asked.

They were sitting across from each other at a table in front of the show stage, that glorious morning glow beginning to fill the restaurant.

"No! This happened over a week ago! ...Same night those kids disappeared," Scott said in a hushed tone.

"So you're thinking you actually saw them breaking in? And the man...do you think that was...Him," Alex said matching Scott's volume as if they were working out some kind of drug trade.

"I think so, maybe. I could barely even see him." Scott fiddled with his camera nervously as he spoke. "I swear to God, ever since seeing those eyes, I haven't been able to sleep."

"It's crazy to think you could of been one of them. One of the missing children," Alex said, staring blankly at a drawing on the wall, lost deep in thought.

"It's crazy to think you actually believe me. Thank you for that, by the way. For listening. I've been too scared to tell anyone else."

"I'm really not sure what I believe after last night..." Alex recalled the Puppet moving around and that mysterious little boy, Edward, calling him the night before.

"Yeah. I guess your story is much less believable than mine."

Alex yawned once more, quickly followed by Scott.

"Well? Are you gonna tell me the rest of your's?" Alex asked expectantly.

"Oh yeah...Um. I woke up in my bed back home. At first I thought I just had a shitty dream, but then my mom told how worried she was when I came home at 1:00AM without a single word and went straight to my bed-"

"Hey, you two! The place's going to be opening up soon, so unless you want to stick around for an 8 year old's birthday party, wrap it up," called a janitor cleaning the surrounding tables. Alex confirmed that they'd be finished soon with a head nod and a quick wave of acknowledgement.

"So anyway, Lucy told me that she brought me home. That it wasn't my time yet. That meathead Mike found me the next day, by the way. He ruffled me up a little than gave me this camera and is forcing me to shoot a film he's gonna enter at the _After Dark Mega Marathon Horror Movie Festival_ as payback for almost killing him _._ "

"That's a shitty name for a festival," Alex said flatly.

"Yeah I know. They call it ADMMHMF for short," Scott responded humorously.

"That really isn't any better."

"I know. Anyway, he told me I have to have it done by the last week of July. The dick didn't even supply me with any kind of script or plot or even actors to work with. I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone by figuring out what kind of shit is going on here so I'll be able to sleep at night while filming the movie. So I came here and that's when I met you," Scott explained.

"This is some freaky shit you've got yourself into," Alex said, wide-eyed.

"Thanks. You're really making me feel better," Scott said sarcastically.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. You haven't even seen the half of it. Take a look at this. I accidentally took a photo of the stage the day I came to film. And I saw this," Scott said on one shaky breath. "Despite my fear, I had to come back in the middle of the night to investigate. I just had to."

He slid a Polaroid photo across the table to Alex. Alex picked it up apprehensively and slowly scanned every aspect of the photo.

Alex shivered as he saw Chica on stage along with two black figures in place of Bonnie and Freddy staring at the camera.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Family Recipe**

 **Scott seeks out information about the victims at an animatronic-using pizzeria nearby in competition with Freddy's, only to find out the owner's son is one of the missing children.**


End file.
